On Our Terms, For Us, For Nobody Else
by HecateA
Summary: Hera's plan to teach Percy and Annabeth respect by sending them on a quest backfires enormously when they end in Las Vegas, surrounded by alcohol. Oneshot, absolute fluff.
1. Las Vegas

**What happens when a plot bunny explodes: Exhibit A. It is 4:00 AM. To match the tone of the story, I have written all of this in one, long night. I can taste colours. I am supposed to be an adult. I hope you enjoy this piece.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all here. Yes, I did reuse pieces of a scene from a drabble in another story, but since I wrote it I call it "recycling".**

* * *

 **On Our Terms, For Us, For Nobody Else**

 _Forever can never be long enough for me  
Feel like I've had long enough with you  
Forget the world now we won't let them see  
But there's one thing left to do_

 _-Marry Me,_ Train

* * *

Until the day she died and death really did do them apart, Annabeth would swear that this was all Hera's fault.

To be fair, she said this about many things. What she was more specifically talking about was the events of July 24th. Which started two days earlier when Percy and Annabeth were minding their own business at Camp Half-Blood, as they always were when the universe came knocking.

Between Percy's sword fighting class and Annabeth's Introduction to Reading Ancient Greek, they were sitting on the dock with their feet dipped in the Canoe Lake. So many new half-bloods had crawled out of the woodworks this summer that Chiron was double-booking all the counselors with classes and workshops. It was a wonder that they had these twenty minutes to sit together and catch up. Their last year of college had been less busy than this.

Which was why Hera picked that moment to appear.

"Fuck," Percy said.

"What is she..?"

"Just be thankful she's come to ask for something instead of kidnapping us," Percy grumbled, swinging his legs out of the water. "Come on, Wise Girl. Let's figure out what's wrong."

When she saw them approach her, the goddess led them to the Big House. They dried their feet on their way in, Annabeth holding her shoes in her hands. When they walked into the Rec Room, Hera had the Ping-Pong table covered with finger sandwiches, this brand of orange-grapefruit juice that Annabeth had found in Berkeley but nowhere else in the world, and all of their usual cravings.

"We're not fourteen-year olds starving and scared on a quest," Percy said. "You can't entice us with food." He picked up a piece of pizza and took a bite, speaking with his mouth full. "What do you want, Hera?"

"Some respect before you push my patience," Hera said. She looked regal as ever, not a hair out of place like a mother in a 50's sitcom, her gossamer gown pooling around her feet. "I intend to make use of your expertise and reliability. I need something done well and quickly."

"Isn't Jason your go-to?" Percy asked. "What's the point of being his patron if you don't go bother him?"

Hera pursed her lips. "Jason isn't well suited to this task. You two, on the other hand, I know have no attachment to my husband."

"If you want us to go after some poor mortal woman he's seeing, forget about it," Annabeth said.

"Will you both calm down and listen?" Hera said, with a flash of light across her eyes that reminded them that she was an all-powerful goddess. They both shut up. Percy did so by stuffing more pizza in his mouth.

"Isn't that better?" Hera said sweetly. "No; my husband must have no part to play in this business. Something was stolen from one of my sanctuaries. A shield, taken from the ruins of Troy by Menelaus and dedicated to me. I want you to return it."

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. Percy felt his eyes roll back inside his skull. Couldn't the gods keep track of their own shit?

Annabeth chewed her lip. "In Ancient Greece, your main temple was in Argos."

"Oh yeah, I remember my Dad telling me that story. He says he was robbed of a shrine there by some stupid river gods. Said it was like Athens all over again. Where is that today, though?" Percy said.

"Cattle Country," Annabeth blurted out. "Colorado, Utah, Idaho… It must be in that area."

"Well, it's nice to see that Athena does indeed deserve her title," Hera said. "Yes, but of course that's not where the shield is now."

"Well where is it?" Percy asked.

"I will provide you with transportation," Hera said. She handed Annabeth a lotus flower. "Every time you pluck a petal, you will be transported. Make sure to have a very clear destination in mind, and make sure that you're together. I will also provide you with accommodations, of course. What kind of family goddess would I be if I left you out in the cold?"

"Wait, you're giving us a flower and a to-do list and that's it?" Percy asked. "Chiron won't let us leave Camp without a prophecy, especially not this summer…"

"Oh, don't worry," Hera said. "I'm sure I can convince my brother to let you be. Now go pack your bags. Like I said: I want this done quickly."

And with that the goddess disappeared.

* * *

 **July 24** **th** **, 5:00 PM**

"It's so stupid," Percy said. They were celebrating the end of their quest with some well-deserved McDonald's. Not that their quest had been that hard.

As it turned out, it was Eris, goddess of strife and disorder, who had stolen the shield to "spice things up" because "things had been too quiet since the last War". Those were her words, not Percy's. He, personally, had had no problem with the lack of apocalypses. He did take issue with being dragged away from Camp Half-Blood, when he should have been using his summer holidays to recover from finally graduating from university, to spend days tracking a stupid minor goddess across the Midwestern United States to Las Vegas, a city so fluorescent and noisy it was ADHD Hell. But, since they were Percy and Annabeth and this wasn't amateur hour, they had gotten it done.

Annabeth, being a genius, had realized that if they went back to Camp now it would be way past suppertime because of the time difference, and she would wake up all of her siblings on her way in. So they decided to spend one last night in L.A. since the two rooms Hera had booked for them were apparently theirs for 'as long as required', according to the bellhop they'd talked to last night.

Annabeth was dipping French fries in her chocolate milkshake. Percy had already wolfed down his food and now he was so tired, he wished that the table wasn't so sticky so he could lay down on it and sleep. When she was finished, they left and started walking around downtown Las Vegas.

"Every time I think the gods have moved on because we're in college now, or because it's literally raining bright-eyed twelve-year olds hungry for quests at camp, we get tugged back in, for the pettiest things," Percy said. "And there's not much that we can do about it."

Annabeth chewed her lip.

"What are you thinking?" Percy said.

"Never mind," Annabeth said. "It's crazy. Although, to piss off Hera…"

"That's the spirit," Percy said.

* * *

 **July 25** **th** **, 12:36 AM**

Percy woke up with hair all over his face and the smell of lemon flooding his nose. Also the stench of beer, but not _just_ beer of course. Vodka, hard liquor; you name it, he had apparently used it to poison his body, all at once. _Nice._

Then the associated headache popped up. Percy cringed as he sat up. _Not nice._

"Annabeth," he muttered. "Where are we?"

"Dunno," Annabeth muttered. "What hotel did Hera book for us after the quest?"

"Dunno," Percy said. "But I'm pretty sure she _probably_ got us two rooms and I'm not supposed to be in yours."

Annabeth laughed into her pillow and mumbled something like "Bite me and my unwed ass, cow goddess", but didn't make any more sign of wanting to move or otherwise commute with the outside world. Percy swung his legs off the bed and looked around the room to find Annabeth's bag. She always had Advil on her. Preparation, if not foresight, was the great thing about Annabeth (among others).

As he stumbled around the room his legs faltered and he nearly face planted on a TV stand. He stood up and his hand had landed on a paper. A very, very important paper.

"Uh- Annabeth," Percy said. "I… You know what, I don't think Hera _would_ have any opposition to us sharing a room…"

"She opposes to us _existing,"_ Annabeth said.

"No, Annabeth, you- you don't understand. We… shit Annabeth, I think we got married."

Annabeth sat up, arching her eyebrows.

"What?" She asked. She clutched her head. " _Owe,_ too fast. Okay, back to my original question- what?"

"Umm, we have a marriage certificate right here," Percy said. "With our names. And our signatures. It even has a seal on it…"

"Oh fuck," Annabeth said getting out of bed. She was wearing his quest-ripped t-shirt, wearing it better as per usual. She looked beautiful as she came up to him rubbing sleep out of her eyes to properly investigate his discovery.

"Crap," Annabeth said.

* * *

 **July 24** **th** **, 5:12 PM**

"I'm just saying," Annabeth shrugged. "If we can't directly oppose Hera, we can always completely ruin the sanctity of the institution she holds dearest to her heart."

Percy had no idea what to do with any of the words that came out of her mouth.

But he didn't need to come up with any new ideas; he already knew, really.

"I want to show you something," Percy said.

Annabeth didn't look convince, but she got in a cab with him and that was the important part. He whispered his directions to the driver, who dropped them off in Container Park. It didn't take long for Percy to find what he was looking for: an enormous statue of a heart, made with what looked like chicken wire, but with hundreds of locks tacked on.

"Rachel told me about this," Percy said. "It's called the Love Locket. It was made for a music festival at first, but now people just add locks to it whenever they fall in love, you know? To make it permanent."

He took Annabeth's hands and got down on one knee, which was the kind of thing he thought should have been reversed.

"Annabeth Chase," he said. "We both know we were going to do this someday. You're as much a part of my life as sleeping or breathing. The whole world knows, really. But since you've always wanted to make something permanent and in the interest of pissing off Hera, will you marry me?"

Annabeth's eyes widened and she gave a quick laugh. He laughed too, but Annabeth squeezed his hands.

"I will," she said.

Percy was a little bit shocked too.

"You will? We're doing this?" he verified.

"Sure," Annabeth said. "Even our best-laid plans are always torn apart, Seaweed Brain. Let's… let's not have a plan. Let's just do this on our terms, for us, for nobody else, and do it. I've loved you for so long, so hard, and despite so many things. I don't need a crowd to tell you, I don't need to prove it to anyone, and I don't need someone to validate how I feel. We'll throw a party later if we want to, but I… I want to marry you. There's no reason not to do it now."

A bunch of people around them started clapping. Percy got up and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled softly. Then she got serious again.

"But I can't get married in clothes that have monster goop and hydra blood all over them," Annabeth said.

"I have to get you a ring," Percy said.

"Meet back here in half an hour?"

"You're on."

They high-fived and ran off.

* * *

 **5:50 PM**

Annabeth didn't even stop to consider how crazy this whole thing was. She just surveyed Target's inventory until she found what she was looking for- a white, backless sundress with a decently fancy V-shaped neckline, lace on the top, and straps that tied around the back of her neck. It also so happened to be the only white dress in Target.

It fit. She grabbed it and ran to the cash register.

* * *

 **5:55 PM**

Percy hadn't ever done anything this impulsive in his life, which was a scary thought. The fact that Annabeth was onboard made it better.

Still, he had no idea where to even _look_ for a wedding ring. This was the kind of thing he would have asked Paul had he, you know, _planned it._ It was too late now. He liked the idea of it. They were doing this _their_ way. They didn't want to follow the rules, because the rules had never worked for them. They didn't want the whole world to be involved, because the world had messed with them so many times.

Still, Percy couldn't help it.

He ducked into a phone booth and dialed a number in San Francisco that he and Annabeth had called at least once a week throughout their four years at UC Berkeley, either to tell M. and Mrs. Chase that they were coming over for supper on Sunday or for canceling because they were drowning in schoolwork and couldn't make the time.

"Hello?" Mrs. Chase answered.

"Hi Mrs. Chase," Percy said. "It's Percy."

"Hi honey!" Mrs. Chase said. "How are you? I didn't recognize the number… We're just in the middle of supper, could we call you back?"

"Umm, is Dr. Chase there? I really need to talk to him. It's not an emergency, but it's kind of... time sensitive."

She sounded suspicious. "Alright, dear."

A few moments later, Frederick Chase said: "Hello?"

"Hi Dr. Chase," Percy said. "It's Percy."

"Oh, hello," he said. "Isn't it late in New York? Is everything okay? Annabeth-"

"Annabeth is fine," Percy promised. "But I am calling about her, and I really wish I could ask you this in person, but I can't, but I still want to ask you, umm, even if I know that you don't have much of a say and that Annabeth will do whatever she wants, but would you let me marry her?"

Obviously, seeing as Percy had dropped this bomb, the line was dead for a few moments.

"Well," Dr. Chase said. "Well, umm… You're right. That is something that Annabeth will decide on her own, no matter what I say…"

"I know," Percy said. "I know, but… Look, my whole life I've been really inconvenient and out of place and, honestly, sort of scruffy. But I've always been really good with Annabeth. She is by far the best thing about me. And I know her mother doesn't like me, so it would really mean a lot if…"

"If I thought you were good enough," Dr. Chase finished. "You do realise that you're quite young?"

"I know," Percy said. "But we've graduated from college, and Annabeth has that internship at that great firm starting in September, and I've got a contract lined up with this non-profit that does conservation education, and we've got a lease in New York starting in September. So we sort of have a plan."

He didn't like the sound of himself. If he ever had a daughter, he wouldn't let some self-proclaimed scruffy mess marry her. Although he tried not to think that far ahead, because he was getting married and that was already enough for today.

"I suppose with you two, age has never mattered," Dr. Chase said. "You've already been together for so long. And I know my daughter. When she was five years old she told me she wanted to be an architect, and look at her now. She knows what she wants, and she's been very clear that she also wants you. How could I pretend to know better, or not to see that? Whenever you ask, I'm sure she'll give you her own hand in marriage."

Percy's mouth was dry. "Thank you, sir."

"Now this is probably the part when I tell you not to hurt her and to be good to her but I don't know how to do that and I don't want to. I suppose I have until the wedding day to figure that fatherly role out."

"Sure," Percy said. He was such a bad liar, he was lucky this was phone call. "Anyways, I should let you get back to your dinner. Sorry for interrupting."

"No, no," Dr. Chase said. "It's alright. Let me know when you ask."

"Sure," Percy said. "Goodnight!"

He hung up.

* * *

 **6:30 PM**

They met in front of the Love Locket again, and Percy smiled when he saw Annabeth in her white dress, converse sneakers, and with her jean jacket thrown over her shoulders. Her hair was swept over her shoulder, and she smiled when she saw him.

"You found clean clothes," she smiled. He'd found a thrift store where he'd found clean trousers and a button-up shirt his size. It was dark blue, but Percy figured he didn't have time to get too fancy.

"I did," Percy said. "I even tried combing my hair."

"Didn't notice."

"Yeah, it didn't work," he said. "And I got you these flowers…"

As it turned out, flower shops didn't have a whole lot at the end of the day -especially when 'the end of the day' was three minutes after they closed and you had to bribe the little old lady manning the cash to let you in and make a final sale. But once he had told her that he was marrying his best friend before their family could say no, she helped him put together a little bouquet with daisies and tiny sweet peas and white roses.

Annabeth tugged one of the flowers from the bouquet and took one of the safety pins holding her backpack together to pin it to his lapel.

"There," she said. She sized him up. "You look handsome."

"And you're beautiful," Percy said. "But that's not new. Are we getting married now?"

"Do we have rings?" Annabeth asked.

"Sort of," Percy said. "I wanted to show you first, you know, to make sure you'd be okay to wear it for... you know... a really, really, _really_ long time."

* * *

 **7:00 PM**

Percy dragged her into the antique shop, to the counter where the gentleman who'd talked to him the first time he came by was still waiting. He wore a pink shirt and a bowtie and a look of barely-contained excitement.

"Hey," Percy said again.

"Oh, honey, you look beautiful," he said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Annabeth said. It felt unreal. The salesman took the ring out from under the counter, and showed Annabeth.

"It's not actually an antique," Percy said. "We're sort of too poor for that. But turns out, this guy makes jewelry on the side. I just… I thought it looked different. It looked like someone had built it to be unique, to look interesting."

"It's perfect," Annabeth said. The ring was dainty, and instead of having a giant stone in the middle, part of the band had been replaced by five tiny raw diamonds threaded on a wire- unpolished and uneven, but completely unique. Sort of like this whole night.

The salesman beamed and started telling them about how happy he was, he had never imagined that someone would use his jewelry to actually get married…

"Wait, do you make men's rings?" Annabeth said.

They picked up a plain silver band for Percy while they were there, and called it a day. They walked out of the shop; Annabeth with Percy's ring in her coat pocket, and Percy with hers in his pocket.

"Where to next?" he asked, looking around. "How do you actually get married?"

* * *

 **7:30 PM**

They went back to the Starbucks where Annabeth had ripped the tags off of her dress and changed out of her scruffy camp clothes. They put two straws in an iced coffee and looked it up on Annabeth's phone.

Annabeth took a sip as she read off the details and Percy counted the ice cubes in her cup: "'To score a marriage license in Clark County, you must appear in person before a clerk at a Marriage License Bureau location, either downtown or at one of the outlying offices. Your proposed union must include two people who are unrelated and both at least 18 years old. Proof of name and age will be required, so don't forget to bring your valid driver's license, passport, military ID card or other government-issued ID card…' Do you have your ID, Seaweed Brain?"

"Driver's license," he nodded.

"Me too," Annabeth said. "Okay, good…" She scanned through the list of technicalities. "Are all your divorces final?"

"Yes," Percy said. Annabeth shot him a look, chewing on her straw. Percy slid the phone across the table towards him, that way he could help and redeem himself. "Oh! Okay, here's the address for the Marriage License bureau."

"Amazing, I'll call an Uber," Annabeth said.

"Wait!" Percy said. "You don't have your… your somethings."

"My what?" Annabeth asked.

"Your somethings!" he said. "Your something borrowed, something blue, something old, something new…"

"That's not the right order."

"You know what I mean," Percy said. "I mean… I know we're doing this rashly, but… I don't want it to feel rash in twenty years. I still want to do it right."

Annabeth smiled and kissed him. "Of course, we're going to do this right. Let's go find some somethings."

* * *

 **8:05 PM**

They dicked around Town Square for a bit, since it was apparently a great place for shopping and 'great finds!' according to Yelp.

For her something blue, Annabeth proposed that she would wear her jean jacket. Percy disagreed. There was blue thread in the sewing kit she always brought along on quests, so Annabeth sewed ten blue stitches into the hem of her dress- one for every year they had known each other.

She insisted that Percy be subjected to the same little poem, in the interest of gender equality.

"Okay," Percy said. "My something blue is this shirt I have. It's also my something new."

"No way," Annabeth said as she put in stitch number nine. "If you want us to find somethings, we're going to be a lot more creative than that."

"Fine," Percy said. "But your dress can't be your something new since you're putting in the blue stitches."

"That's fair," Annabeth said.

They walked around for a bit. They found a fountain full of coins, and they checked the pennies inside. The oldest they found was from 1954.

"Old," Annabeth said, slipping it into Percy's back pocket.

Annabeth's something old was a bobby pin that Percy found in his bag. They figured that it had probably been there for ages because, in Percy's words, "I've been finding random bobby pins everywhere since we started dating, so maybe it's been there since then". Annabeth used it to tuck a stray curl back.

At a gift shop, Percy found a star-shaped keychain with LAS VEGAS written in the middle, with little blue rhinestones dotting the outside. That became his something blue.

Annabeth claimed that the name "Jackson" would be her something new, but Percy shot that down on account that he wasn't going to get a new last name and so that wasn't fair and anyways she had always said that she would never change her name, so this was clearly a cop-out.

They agreed that the rings would count as their something new, but just in case that didn't count, they picked up a newspaper from the day, their wedding day, and tucked it into Percy's backpack.

They exchanged Camp necklaces as their "something borrowed".

Then they called an Uber.

* * *

 **9:05 PM**

They filed the paperwork. They drank champagne while they waited for the first available chapel because honestly, they had decided to get married two hours ago and didn't really care where it happened. Plus Annabeth totally shot down an Elvis-themed wedding because oh, _now was the time to draw the line and be responsible?_ There was also an under-the-sea themed chapel, but Annabeth said her mother was already going to kill her once she found out she'd actually married Percy, there was no point in fueling the fire.

They had no witnesses, opting out of summoning Nico di Angelo at the last minute in case he suddenly grew a conscience and became some sort of whistle-blower. They considered calling Grover too, but he was so busy and this would honestly freak him out more than anything else. Good thing the chapel provided a witness. His name was Antone, and he seemed nice. He took some really nice pictures of them sitting on the bench waiting, of their rings resting on their marriage license and on the ticket with their number. He told them that he was a photography student, and that this was how he practiced. They promised to send him their pictures so that he could add them to his portfolio.

The room they ended up in had creamy white walls and fairy lights for ambiance and it took them about ten minutes to get married.

Percy couldn't believe he'd finally made her Mrs. Seaweed Brain.

* * *

 **10:00 PM**

They went out for ice cream after getting married. Percy had brought up the idea of having ice cream cake since you were supposed to have cake after you got married, but Annabeth didn't have the right attitude about it and didn't think that the two of them could finish off an entire ice cream cake all to themselves. So they got ice cream.

"Our parents are going to kill us," Annabeth said, stealing ice cream from Percy's bowl. "All six of them. And Estelle might take a stab at us too."

"That's a problem for tomorrow," Percy said. He looked up at her with a smile. She broke down and smiled back at him.

"Gods, you're such a goof," she said. She leaned over and kissed him; her lips were cold and the kiss tasted like cookie dough. "And just so we're perfectly clear, just because I worry about what my mother is going to do to me once the news breaks in the Olympian tabloids doesn't mean I'm expecting to regret this, Seaweed Brain."

"It's actually Mr. Wise Girl now," Percy said.

"Although divorce is always an option," Annabeth said.

* * *

 **11:00 PM**

They went dancing at a street party downtown. Percy had no idea what the festival was for, but he and Annabeth were more than happy to buy overpriced beer at the concession stand and dance and dance and dance. Pretty much wherever they went, they got free drinks if they mentioned that they'd just gotten married- which Annabeth at first thought was a stupid and expensive habit to have when you owned a business in Las Vegas, but then she started not minding so much.

They were both prone to wandering when tipsy. The lights on the Las Vegas strip looked even more impressive after an entire bottle of champagne and multiple free samples.

* * *

 **2:00 AM**

Percy tried to convince her that they should get married in Vegas, and Annabeth said no, they really shouldn't. But when they got the munchies at she let him propose in a KFC so they could get free food. They both managed to look sober enough for that to actually work.

Percy messed the whole thing up by describing the wedding to the cashier who gave them their food, at which point Annabeth grabbed the food, grabbed his hand, and ran out, fearing that their chicken would be confiscated.

* * *

 **3:00 AM**

Back in the hotel, after fueling up on chicken nuggets, they realized that even if Hera had no credit card on which mini fridge snacks and alcohol purchases could be charged, they should still order a bunch to piss her off more.

They also jumped on the bed. Percy apologized when the man who brought them a bottle of champagne (had they called for that?) asked them to stop.

He came back half an hour later with another bottle of wine (that neither of them remembered ordering), and told them that they were allowed to go _on_ the bed if they didn't jump. That was probably when they got up off the floor and fell asleep drinking wine in bed, although there was no real way to tell.

Percy did remember Annabeth burrowing his chest and saying: "I love you so much, I don't know how to say it. You'll never know, and I'm sorry about that. It feels not fair since you taught be all about love. I wanted you to know you're the best thing that's ever been mine but I have no way to say it. I'll just never admit it sober."

"That's okay," he'd drunkenly answered.

"I'll show you," she promised. "You'll see."

* * *

 **July 25** **th** **, 12:44 PM**

"The good news is, I think it was a classy chapel." Percy said.

"Yeah, looks like it," Annabeth said. "Well… want to order room service for breakfast to celebrate?"

"How are you not freaking out?" Percy asked.

"I want waffles more than I want stress and existential anxiety," Annabeth said. "Besides. What probably happened is that we got pissed about being sent for a quest while camp is overflowing with willing demigods, we got our shit done because we're not amateurs, decided to fuck with Hera by sloppily getting married in Vegas, got super drunk, and hailed a cab to the hotel we remembered she'd booked for us."

"I guess it'll come back to us at some point. Do you think this place is too classy to have whipped cream on its waffles or..?"

* * *

Since they were still going back to Camp to help until the end of the summer, they had to figure out how to play their cards, here.

Annabeth folded her wedding dress and put it at the very bottom of her bag so her siblings wouldn't see. On their last day in Vegas, while they were eating waffles ( _with_ whipped cream) in bed and drinking the strongest black coffee they could order to try and sober up, they talked about it. They decided that their parents should know first, and then that Annabeth's siblings should find out before the rest of camp.

"Do you think Chiron will let you sleep in Cabin 3 now?"

"When have we ever needed Chiron's permission for that?" Annabeth said.

"But like... officially..."

"You can be the one to ask Chiron to validate cohabitation on camp grounds, how's that?" Annabeth asked. "Let me know how that goes."

They spent most of the day recuperating and eating the World's Most Expensive Cashews out of their mini-fridge and being newly weds. Just before supper time at Camp, Percy put his ring on his necklace, and Annabeth switched hers over to her right hand, and then they traveled back to Camp. They were going to head over to the Big House first to tell Chiron they were back and give him the full report (of the quest, not of Vegas- there were some things Chiron should never know).

On their way in, they ran into Piper who was leaving the Big House with a can of paint.

"You're back!"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Oh, is that the blackboard paint for Cabin 10?"

"Yes! Chiron finally put the order in, and Argus drove it in from the city today. I was thinking that tomorrow we would…" She trailed off and frowned. "Something's wrong. Are you two okay?"

"What?" Percy asked. "Yeah, we're fine. It was a breezy little quest."

Piper didn't look convinced and Annabeth's stomach tightened. If the children of Aphrodite all got this suspicious and started digging…

They were saved by the conch horns blowing. Annabeth kissed Percy goodbye and merged in with all her siblings as they filed into the Dining Pavilion. Percy got a nod from Nico and a 'still alive?' from Jason when he sat down at the Big Three table that they had created. Or that Jason and Percy had invented since Nico usually sat with the Apollo Cabin.

His cousins filled him in on what he'd missed at Camp (they were mostly shaming him about missing a Capture-the-Flag game and screwing up their strategy), when thunder crackled above their heads. Cabin 5 drew their weapons so quickly that their table flipped over. The dining hall burst in activity as a voice from above boomed: _PERSEUS JACKSON!_

Percy was pretty sure he knew what this was about, and not that he wanted to drag her down with him, but Annabeth had been there too and he didn't hear her name echoing down from the heavens, and that wasn't fair.

The goddess Hera materialized in the dining hall near the table where Chiron, Mr D and Cabin Twelve sat- giving a heart attack to poor Pollux.

"What fresh hell is this," Nico breathed.

"This is not good," Jason said.

"How _dare_ you?" Hera boomed. "Such insolence-"

Percy got to his feet, slipping one hand in his pocket where Riptide was. She wouldn't be able to help him much against the wrath of the Queen of the Heavens, but the ballpoint was comforting nonetheless.

Annabeth dashed across the Dining Hall to stand with him, protectively.

"And you," Hera said. "Annabeth Chase, who hasn't been able to show an ounce of respect in your entire lifetime-"

"Hera," another voice boomed.

Percy should have been relieved to see his dad materialize in the Dining Pavilion, trident in hand, presumably to help him out, but he was pretty damn shocked. So was the entire population of Camp Half-Blood. Also, his father was wearing a light grey suit, like the sea after a storm or early in the morning, instead of his usual Hawaiian patterned shirts, and though those were obnoxious and overstimulating, this freaked out Percy more.

"Hera, stand down."

"Stay out of this," Hera said. "This is between me and your son."

"And all of Camp," Percy muttered. "And probably all of Olympus watching. Great."

"I thought we had agreed not to act like children about this."

"Oh God, it got worse," Annabeth said, as Athena herself materialized in the dining hall. All of Cabin 6 stood up a little straighter. Percy was a little bit proud to see her put her wedding ring back on her left hand. He looked up and Piper totally picked up on the small gesture. Percy saw her jaw drop across the hall. She was going to kick his ass for not telling her.

Though most of Camp looked excited enough to pass out about a third goddess appearing, Hera looked less than amused.

"This has nothing to do with the two of you," Hera said. "Don't show favoritism."

"I contest your claim of favoritism on the grounds that I would intervene in any scenario where you declared open war against one of my children for seemingly no reason," Athena said.

"And I only have the one," Poseidon said. "Sister, this isn't the place. Has it perhaps slipped your mind that Camp Half-Blood is a sanctuary, as determined in the Winter Solstice Meeting, December 1902?"

"Surely even you can see the ridicule of the situation Hera," Athena reasoned. "I mean, _Poseidon_ is citing legal precedents."

"Is this the time?" Poseidon asked.

"Time is a resource that does not run out to us immortals, especially when well-organized," Athena replied calmly.

"They lost their right to sanctuary when they spit on my realm," Hera said.

"Well maybe next time don't send us on a wild goose chase that ends in Las Vegas, My Lady," Annabeth said.

Percy could physically hear the dining pavilion buzzing with activity and epiphany as people realized what in the world Hera was going on about. He made eye contact with his father for a split second only to turn away and make eye contact with Chiron, which was nearly worst. It was like every time Chiron thought he had seen it all, _nope,_ enter Percy.

"Annabeth Chase," Athena said with a warning in her tone, though there was a bit of a smile on her face. She was the goddess of smart people and of smartasses all at once, as it turned out.

"You did not," Jason said, punctuating every word.

"Gross," Nico said.

Good to know Percy could rely on his cousins, here. Where was Hazel when he needed her? Hell, he'd take Thalia.

"I will hold them responsible for this lack of respect," Hera said.

"Millions of people go to Vegas every year," Percy said. "Is it so hard to believe that we were just… inspired?"

"Yes," Athena said. She turned back to Hera. "Although he does make a fair point. They have broken no mortal laws. Once you let Nevada spiral out of control, it fell out of control. Surely, you can recognize the facts."

"The facts are secondary," Poseidon said. "I will not have you lay a single finger on my son- or on my, apparently, new daughter-in-law."

Annabeth blushed.

Mr D, across the dining hall, made sure that even the first year campers who had slept through the entire fiasco were up to date by saying, quite loudly: "Don't tell me that Peter and Bethany got married. Oh dear Zeus, help us all."

Percy raised his hand. Athena was the first to notice and she arched an eyebrow.

"Something to say, Son of Poseidon?" Athena said.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Yeah, umm… in our defense… Well, we did get married to spite Lady Hera…"

"That's not what defense means," Annabeth whispered.

"You're going to make her a widow if you don't get it together," Nico said, not so helpfully.

"But for what it's worth," Percy continued, "we would have gotten married one day anyways. I love her. Somehow she loves me. She walked into my life ten years ago like someone walks into their house, like they were supposed to be there all along. And since that day everything's been shuffling around to make me a better, smarter and braver person. And every day I'm with her I get better, and every day I'm still happy to have her by my side. So yeah we were pissed, and yeah we get clingy after quests like this because we've nearly lost each other so much, but I can't and I won't feel guilty or – or remorseful about what we did, because I love her too much. And isn't that what a wedding is supposed to be? About people who love each other more than… more than it has to be about a plan and a ceremony and a party and wearing fancy clothes that aren't from Target…" He got no reaction from the immortals. "Just wanted to put that out there, for what it's worth."

"Not a lot, unfortunately," Athena muttered.

"Oh but it is, don't you see?" Another immortal boomed from the heavens.

"Please make it stop," Annabeth said.

"Jupiter help us," Jason said, a flicker of recognition (and also terror) in his eyes.

"This is like Christmas," Nico said.

It took Percy a second to see through her glamour, for Aphrodite's hair to flicker from blond curls to another one of the thousands of looks that made her look a little bit less like Annabeth.

"He _loves_ her," Aphrodite said. "She loves _him!_ She's a daughter of Athena, she doesn't anything she knows she'll regret! And a son of Poseidon? Please, when's the last time any of them have done anything they didn't really, really want to do? Hera I don't care if they're married. They have been my favourite love story _for. ever._ All of Olympus is pouring over the tabloids and the pictures and the play-by-plays!"

"What pictures?" Percy asked.

"And you heard that handsome young man," Aphrodite said. "They're still in love. Which means they're still in my domain and under my protection. And if you don't agree with that, I will bring it up to Zeus myself and you bet your peacocks I can make him listen."

 _"_ _Mother,"_ Piper said. Jason also looked ready to die, which Percy thought might be a good exercise in empathy since Hera was _his_ patron and so _his_ problem.

Hera maintained Aphrodite's glare for quite some time, before turning back to Percy and Annabeth.

"You're fortunate that Lady Aphrodite has vouched for you," Hera said. "I will not tolerate another insult from either of you."

"Noted," Percy said.

Just like that Hera fluttered away. Aphrodite squealed and clapped her hands.

"We should have scandals every day," she said. "This was _so_ much fun."

"Right," Athena said. She looked at Annabeth. "I won't be able to stand for you again. You have wounded Hera's pride and though I can appreciate the wittiness of it all…"

She didn't finish her sentence. She smiled, bowed her head, and disappeared back to Olympus.

Poseidon looked at Percy.

"Good one. But just because Hera didn't kill you for eloping doesn't mean your mother won't," he said. "Good luck with her. And this lot. I don't know how you were planning on breaking the news, but you're welcome."

And he left too.

And Percy and Annabeth stood with about a hundred pairs of eyes on them. Percy turned to Annabeth.

"You okay?" he asked, trying to be quiet enough so that the entirety of camp, which was being very quiet and leaning in to listen to him, could hear.

"Percy, those were the most beautiful vows you could have given me," she said quietly. He wrapped his arms around her, only realizing that his heart had stopped beating when he felt hers.

"Are you for fucking real?" Clarisse shouted out from Cabin 5.

Before Percy or Annabeth could respond, a familiar cry emerged.

"TO THE CANOE LAKE!" Shouted one of the Stolls, or both.

And they didn't fight the crowd who picked them up and dragged them to the canoe lake. This was probably what all his English teachers had always meant by 'poetic justice'. The crowd did, oh so thoughtfully, keep them close enough together so that they could hold hands.

They held hands right until they hit the surface of the water. They kissed once underwater, and when they surfaced, Percy scooped Annabeth up in his arms and kissed her again. The crowd lost it. Piper threw a shoe at them.

"That was close," Percy said.

"We've had worst," Annabeth said, her curls flat against her shoulders. When she put her hand on Percy's cheek, he felt the silver band press against his skin and he smiled even more.

"Do you think we're off the hook yet?" Percy asked.

"I don't know, but Hera's definitely not going to ask us for more favours," Annabeth said. "If we're lucky, word will spread."

"We're not lucky," Percy said. "But at least we're in this together."


	2. Montauk

**Author's Note:** So it was recently brought to my attention that I've been writing a lot, but all of it is Harry Potter and it's been a while since I wrote a PJO story now. This is a fair point; and _also_ I have been sitting on this story for... wow, months now. So many months that this was written before _The Hidden Oracle_ came out and everything got painful. But it's dusted off now, and ready and cute and I hope you enjoy it! It also gets to be one of the firsts (if not the first) PJO story in the writing forum I'm in, so that's cool too!

 **Disclaimer:** Rick Riordan owns everything, including my sanity.

 **Warnings:** NA

* * *

 **Stacked with:** MC4A; Eternal Rhapsody; Shipping Wars; Spring Bingo

 **Individual Challenge(s):** Summer Vacation; Seeds; Tiny Terror; Old Shoes; Mountain Dwellers; Wise Seaweed; Neurodivergent; Booger Breath; Worth 2 Quid; The Real MC

 **Representation(s):** Percy/Annabeth wedding; gods aplenty

 **Bonus challenge(s):** Bandstand; Eternal Boredom; Second Verse (Fire Song); Chorus (Not a Lamp);

 **Tertiary bonus challenge:** NA

 **Word Count:** 8362

* * *

 _ **Shipping Wars**_

 **Ship (Team):** Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase (Wise Seaweed)

 **List (Prompt):** Summer Big List (Beach/Ocean)

* * *

 _ **Summer Bingo**_

 **Space Address (Prompt):** 1C (Beach/Ocean)

 **Word Count:** 8362

* * *

 **It Had to Be Done**

 _I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend  
Lucky to have been where I have been  
Lucky to be coming home again_

 _Lucky we're in love in every way  
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed  
Lucky to be coming home someday_

-Jason Mraz, _Lucky_

"Is this straight?" Percy asked, pinning up a strand of fairy lights. When she turned back towards Percy to check, she nearly fell off her stepladder.

"Annabeth!" Percy cried.

"Don't hurt yourself, sweetheart," Sally said. She'd caught Annabeth by the waist. "We need you in one piece tomorrow."

"And ideally longer," Percy said.

"I'll get there," Annabeth said. "And to answer your question, yes it's straight. This place looks great already."

That it did. They'd rented out the pavilion on the beach- this huge, open, wooden pavilion that hosted Bingo nights and First of July BBQs during the busy summer months. They'd done a good job at polishing it up- nailing tiles back down on the roof, sanding down splinter hazards, and things like that. They'd pushed all the long tables to the sides, once they'd fixed those up. An eclectic assemblage of lanterns and strands of fairy lights and sea glass hung around and zig-zagging across the ceiling. Tyson was helping Estelle fill glass jars with sand and pebbles and sea shells from the beach to make candle holders.

"It absolutely will," Sally said. "I think that's everything for the reception space…"

"Yes," Annabeth said. "And we can't really do anything else until tomorrow."

"So we can go swimming now?" Percy asked.

"See, this is why I said we shouldn't do this on the beach," Annabeth said. "Easily distracted spouse. But yes."

"Bring your sister," Sally said. "She's been waiting all day."

On his way to the water, Percy scooped up his little sister from where she was kneeling with her plastic shovel and bucket, and shouted out: "Estelle! It's happening again! You're suddenly being turned into a mermaid!"and ran with her into the water. Tyson was hot on their heels, also shouting about mermaids.

Sally watched them with a smile on her face as Annabeth stepped down from her stepstool. She put a hand on Annabeth's back. "I know Percy needed a break, but do you need help with anything else?"

"No, we really do have everything. Piper's on liquor duty, the nymphs will be here to cater and set up everything tomorrow, Paul's picking up the firewood, my dad is - oh, you have Estelle's dress, right?"

"I do," Sally said. "Are you staying with us tonight?"

"Actually, the girls rented one of the cabins down the beach a night early," Annabeth said. "It's going to be the Californians' cabin tomorrow, but for now it's going to be bridesmaid center."

"Cute," Sally smiled. She wrapped an arm around Annabeth. "Though I suppose it doesn't really matter, since you're already in the family." Annabeth leaned against her.

They watched Tyson, Percy and Estelle splash around. Estelle did a handstand in the waves and Percy and Tyson clapped when she emerged, Percy calling it a 'ten out of ten' and Tyson telling Estelle that she'd just performed 'the handiest handstand ever!'

"I want to show you something," Sally said. "And I don't want you to feel any pressure…"

"Okay," Annabeth said.

Sally went to the pile of backpacks and purses they'd made on one of the tables and took a flat carboard box from a reusable grocery bag. She cracked it open and showed Annabeth the veil inside. It was plain, nothing too complicated about it, but it looked delicate and old.

"Is this yours?" Annabeth asked, her stomach clenching.

"Yes," Sally said. "It was actually my mother's first— it's one of the only things of hers that actually made it to me through a cousin who'd borrowed it before she… I know you are making this as easy and low-maintenance as possible, but I noticed that you didn't have a veil and I thought that maybe, and again no pressure, but if you want to borrow it…"

Annabeth threw her arms around Sally.

It had to be done, really.

When Percy and Annabeth had told Sally and Paul that they'd gotten married, Sally had gasped audibly and put her hand against her mouth. She had removed it once to ask them 'oh wow sweethearts, how did… why, umm… how did that happen?' And then it had gone back on, and her eyes had stayed round like saucers until they'd finished the story, and she hugged them both at once. But it had been a shocker. Annabeth's parents had been similarly surprised. All of the above had been a lot more relaxed when Percy and Annabeth had mentioned that Poseidon and Athena had been alright with it, or had at least backed them up, because, well, _if those two were onboard._

Piper McLean had been the most honest person, expressing the common concern of _oh, so we won't have a wedding to go to and get drunk at?_

"No," Percy had said. "Also here is the shoe you threw at us. The naiads wanted to keep it but I thought you would want it back."

"How thoughtful," Piper said. "Thank you."

She took her shoe back, and then grinned. "That doesn't matter you guys, I'm teasing. We're happy for you."

But in a way, it did matter. Hazel Levesque was positively outraged that there had been no proper wedding (Frank had also been too mad about the lack of a party to defend his girlfriend's old-fashioned tastes), Reyna had had a migraine for a week after she'd found out, and Grover had cried. Estelle hadn't understood how someone could get married outside a ballroom and without a prince or a superhero present.

"But you only had Percy there," Estelle had told Annabeth, frowning.

"That's true," Annabeth admitted. "But they made an exception because I told them I loved him."

Percy liked the sound of that, but Estelle wasn't satisfied and thought Annabeth had been selling herself short. This was not an altogether crazy position for a five-year-old to take.

Aphrodite, who had appointed herself their patron, had slipped copies of _Olympus Weekly_ under their doors for months- both Cabins at camp, and their apartment in New York. For at least three weeks, _Olympus Weekly_ published daily with new pictures and headlines about them, which Piper had helpfully used to make collages which she had pasted around camp, making sure to keep a photocopy of each for her own personal amusement. Chiron had been badgered for a quote for a week, which meant that Percy had spent weeks cleaning out the stables and raking the sand in the arena and doing all kinds of other fun jobs as penance. Annabeth had also had a chore list, but Chiron had kept them completely separated.

Annabeth didn't regret marrying Percy. She knew that Hera was going to be pissed until the end of time. But she liked living with Percy and buying real furniture, she liked wearing her ring, and she liked the look she'd gotten out of Percy when she'd shown him the completed paperwork to change her name to _Annabeth Chase-Jackson_ just before she got her architecture license. Those things were important to her.

But so was family. Annabeth was officially allowed to come to family reunions with Paul's side of the family and help keep Percy sane now. When Bobby and Matthew came to New York over spring break, Percy kept them busy at the American Museum of Natural History and fed them hotdogs and pretzels and they actually liked him. They now had seven parents and in-laws apiece.

And family hadn't been in Las Vegas. So they were going to throw the party here and hope that made everyone feel better.

Annabeth stood up to her ankles in the tide. When he spotted her, Percy plopped Estelle on Tyson's back and wadded over to her.

"Don't touch me, you're soaking," Annabeth said. He grinned, his hair sticking up senselessly. She'd (lovingly) told him to get a haircut so he didn't look homeless at their wedding, but he hadn't. "I just wanted to say goodnight, because-"

"Hey bitch," Piper said, also wadding into the water. She didn't hesitate to give Percy a hug.

"Hey!" Percy said. "When did you guys get here?"

"Ten minutes ago," Piper said. "Jason got lost driving."

"Come hug me too!" Hazel cried, from the shoreline—staying far away from the water. Percy wadded over to give her a hug too. Annabeth rolled her eyes, and chased him back to the shoreline.

"Percy?"

"Right!" Percy said. "But why goodnight?"

"I'm being kidnapped," Annabeth said.

"Yes, but only for a bit," Piper said. "The first time you got married, you guys didn't plan it so we didn't have time to throw her a bachelorette party. Your second wedding also only gave us a three month heads up during which none of us were in the same city—thanks for that—so there won't be a bachelorette party. Having one would be awkward because you already ruined it by getting married. So we're having a slumber party instead."

"Yes," Annabeth said.

"It's going to be the best," Hazel said. "I'm a little relieved there won't be strippers involved."

"You got overruled?" Annabeth asked Piper.

"I shouldn't have let Reyna vote," Piper said. "But when Reyna gets here, she'll have pizza, so I guess it's a good thing we got her onboard."

"Right," Percy said.

She stood on her toes and kissed Percy.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Percy said. "Are you going to say goodbye to Estelle..?"

"Actually she'll be coming," Piper said. "At least for a bit, since she's the flower-girl. Just enough for us to hype her up on ice cream and send her back to your parents."

"We have a t-shirt for her," Hazel said.

"May I have a t-shirt?" Percy asked.

"No. Now say goodnight so we can get out of here."

As it turned out, Annabeth had left a list of things for Percy to do on the fridge of the family cabin.

 _Seaweed Brain:_

 _-Take your clothes out of your suitcase so you're not wrinkled and gross tomorrow_

 _-Shave or else I'm not kissing you, I don't care how many people are watching._

 _-Double check if my dad is still picking up Chiron tomorrow because Piper will probably confiscate my phone tonight so I can't do it_

 _-Don't forget to sacrifice to Hera (and Athena, Aphrodite, your father- the usual- maybe get my mother twice)_

 _-I love you_

Annabeth was pleasantly satisfied. She and Reyna were sharing a bowl of popcorn and sitting on the bed while _Wonder Woman_ played on an old, grainy TV. Annabeth's foot was sitting on Hazel's lap since she's insisted on painting her toenails. Estelle was laying on her lap, falling asleep but trying not to because she wanted to make sure Dianna won against Ares. Sally was braiding Annabeth's hair so it didn't explode overnight, Magnus was sitting on the floor and licking envelopes stuffed with cards that said _Thanks for coming!_ and Piper was mixing lemonade, blueberry vodka, and gin. Or Kool-Aid powder and bottled water, if you were Estelle. Every now and then, Annabeth sprung up.

"Where are my shoes?"

"In the box underneath your dress," Piper said.

"And before you ask, your dress is hanging in the bathroom," Rachel said. She was sketching the whole scene, leaning against the bathroom door.

"Right," Annabeth said. "I knew that. We double-checked that payments had gone through for the..?"

"Yes," Piper said. "Five hours ago. When we went through your entire checklist and then update your spreadsheet. And I've been texting Jason, and Percy went through his checklist too. And also you made a double checklist to make sure you didn't forget anything on the first checklist, and that checked out too. Now please have a drink and calm down."

"No thanks," Annabeth said. "I rather have the Kool-Aid."

"You're doing fine," Sally whispered in her ear.

"This was less stressful last time," Annabeth said.

"That's because you have time to stop and think this time and there is far less champagne involved," Reyna said. Annabeth punched her, and Reyna punched back.

"Yeah, imagine how stressful it is for those of us who are actually engaged for a while!" Hazel said. She finally selected a bottle of nail polish from her makeup bag. "This colour good?"

"Yes," Annabeth said. "Thanks, Hazel. But Estelle knows best, what do you think Stella?"

"Beautiful," Estelle said, sleepily.

Hazel looked up and smiled before turning back to her work, biting the tip of her tongue when she focused. "Good. I'll do your tip toes next if you want, sweetie."

"I wanna match my sister," Estelle said.

Hazel looked up with a soft look on her face, as if she'd just seen a puppy. Annabeth reached down and tousled Estelle's hair. Estelle didn't understand family relations so well yet, which was acceptable when you were five. It must be especially confusing since Annabeth had been around for her entire life. But being called a big sister? This Annabeth liked.

Sally tossed the end of Annabeth's second braid over her shoulder. "There you are, all done."

She wrapped her arms around Annabeth, and between that and her sweater and her pajama shorts, Annabeth had never been cozier.

"Hey, I love all of you," Annabeth said. "This cabin has my favourite people in it."

"Except your husband," Piper said. "But we appreciate the sentiment."

"Sorry man," Jason said. "Piper says she lost our copy of _Wonder Woman."_

"No worries," Percy said. They were in the midst of a Harry Potter marathon and playing Skip-Bo on the floor, because the chairs were all lost under boxes and suitcases. They were also drinking wine from mason jars because they'd run out of wine glasses yesterday and nobody had done dishes, and they weren't going to start now.

"Hey, actually," Percy said. "If you feel guilty, you can do me a favour tomorrow."

"I didn't actually feel that sorry, but sure," Jason said.

"I got something for Annabeth that I need someone to give to her," Percy said. "Frank, can you reach my coat?"

Frank lunged across the floor, and managed to take the ring box out of the pocket. He tossed it to Percy, who opened it up.

"Whoa," Grover said.

"The craftsmanship on that…" Leo gasped.

"Yeah, I thought she'd like it," Percy said.

He was proud of himself. The metal matched Annabeth's wedding ring, and it was the most interesting-looking ring he could find. It fit an architect; the coppery braids had perfect spaces to nestle crystals. They had agreed not to replace their wedding bands, so he hadn't wanted to get a ring with extra diamonds. He figured she wouldn't be too mad with him since she didn't have an engagement ring.

"Oh please," Grover said. "Please let me bring that to her tomorrow."

"Finish your drinks, Harry just used _Expelliarmus,"_ Nico said pointing at the TV screen, and the rules of their Harry Potter Drinking Game posted above it. "Sorry was that anticlimactic?"

"Yes," Will said.

They did finish their drinks, and ended up falling asleep on the floor.

"Fuck, can you guys not do anything right?" Hazel said, which surprised the life out of Percy and Annabeth since _Hazel Levesque does not swear._

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked, holding a Rubbermaid bin in her arms.

Hazel sighed. "The groom and bride aren't supposed to see each other before the wedding."

"We didn't think it would be a problem since we already had a wedding," Percy said. "Sorry Hazel."

She wandered off muttering in either Creole or Latin, to help their other friends who were setting up rows and rows of chairs on the beach.

He kissed Annabeth's cheek, and took the box from her. "This is too heavy for you."

"I'm fine, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. She looked cute with her braids and her denim shorts and her sweater.

"What's in here anyways?"

"Strands of sea glass," she said, "to set up as an archway where the alter would usually go. Not that heavy."

"It doesn't matter, I'm carrying it now," he said. His voice quieted down. "How are you feeling?"

"Happy, good, excited," Annabeth said. "You?"

"Happy, good, excited," Percy smiled back. Now that her hands were free, Annabeth raised her left hand to show him her other ring.

"Whoa, what's that on your finger?" Percy asked. "Is that… are you already married? Wow, I wish we'd known before getting that cake," Percy said.

"I'm sorry, I thought you knew," Annabeth said. "This is embarrassing. Hazel's really going to be mad, now."

At around noon, they did in fact separate so that Hazel could unbraid Annabeth's hair, pin the veil in it, and they could get married.

There was a knock on the front door.

"Percy?" Reyna checked suspiciously.

"No," Chiron said. So Reyna opened the door, and Chiron ducked inside. He was wearing one of the suit tops that he wore when he posed as a teacher in middle schools, glasses perched on the tip of his nose.

"Hello, everyone," Chiron said. He looked at Annabeth and smiled. "You look lovely, child."

"Thank you," Annabeth said. If she lived to be seventy-five, Chiron would still call her _child._ "Have you seen Percy yet? Is he presentable?"

"Very much so," Chiron said. "I just wanted to see if you needed anything…"

"No, Jason and Piper have been playing the messengers," Annabeth said. "If my husband's ready to get married, I'm ready."

Hazel popped up in the doorframe again, her corkscrew curls loose down her back. She was already wearing her light grey bridesmaid dress and the white Toms they were all wearing because as it turned out, sand was a problematic substrate to get married on.

"People are coming in," Hazel said. "I think we're ready to start on time."

"Great," Annabeth said. She took a deep breath, and reached for her bottle of water to take one last sip. "Stella, do you have my flowers?"

"That's what Super Flower Girl is for!" She said. She handed Annabeth her bouquet with a smile that made Annabeth smile back. She looked adorable with the white ribbon and the bow around her waist and the headband in her hair and the lip gloss Piper had snuck her. She was also wearing a superhero cape, because she'd asked Percy first and Percy was physically uncapable of saying no, and she had been way too excited about it for anybody to issue a retraction.

"Thank you," Annabeth said. Her stomach churned inexplicably. "Alright, let's get this done so that we can get to the party."

"The real reason we're opening up this can of worms again," Piper said.

"Can someone get my dad?" Annabeth asked.

"He's just helping Paul organize the nymphs," Sally said.

"Can either of them see nymphs?" Hazel asked.

A beat passed.

"No," Sally said. "So I'll double-check on that too before going to Percy."

She kissed Annabeth's cheek.

"I'll go get the boys," Hazel said. She darted away, and came right back, hanging in the doorframe. "Oh, by the way, you should know that, umm, this extra row of chairs kept appearing and Frank and I couldn't figure out why they were there or why they kept coming back- but there's a few gods there now. Just so you know."

She darted away, and Annabeth sighed.

"It's not that I wasn't expecting this," Annabeth said. "It's that I hoped it wouldn't be too bad."

It wasn't too bad. Holding onto her dad's arm as Reyna and Piper, the last two bridesmaids, walked down the aisle, Annabeth scanned the crowd like a battlefield. She had known that her mother would be there, she'd made sure to mention it in her prayers. But somehow Athena, in a long traditional Grecian dress, had ended up sitting next to Poseidon. Hopefully they would last through the ceremony.

And of course Hera would be there- they had hand-delivered the invitation to the 100th floor of the Empire State Building this time. She was wearing her diadem, not even being subtle. Zeus sat next to her, although Annabeth couldn't imagine why he'd want to be there. She recognized other deities from her time designing Olympus.

"Look at Percy," her dad whispered. "He's the one you're here for today. Don't get overwhelmed."

"Thank you," she whispered back. He squeezed her hand. Then the music changed.

"I think that's our cue," her dad said.

"Yeah," Annabeth said.

She _did_ look at Percy the second she came out. And he smiled when he saw her, and a grin broke across his face when he realized that she was wearing her $20 Target wedding dress from Vegas. And he was wearing the blue shirt from Vegas too, but with cleaner pants this time. And that put a smile on her face too. It felt like they were whispering it to each other in front of the world: _we're already together, this is for the crowd._

When they reached the end of the aisle, Percy stepped down and Annabeth was a little surprised when her dad hugged Percy. Then Percy took her hand and they joined Chiron at the altar, holding hands. They'd asked him to perform the ceremony, and he'd agreed after a stunned silence.

"Friends, family, Lords and Ladies of Olympus," Chiron started.

Annabeth smiled at Percy, and Percy stuck out his tongue. Annabeth gave him a look, and he smiled. She rolled her eyes. Of course he was going to be like this _now_.

She stuck her tongue out back at him, because what the hell.

Because Katie Gardner insisted and specifically requested it, and there was no saying no to Katie really, Annabeth tossed her bouquet. Piper caught it and immediately turned to give Jason a look.

" _After_ my doctorate is done," he grumbled.

"Dude, she's going to propose to you if you don't," Frank said.

"I'm not saying yes until _after_ my doctorate, either."

"You've been saying that for years," Hazel said.

"Yeah Jason, you've been saying that for years," Piper said. She stuck a flower behind his ear.

"It—these things take a long time!" Jason said, flustered. Piper smiled and kissed him.

"We're going to have to wait and let everyone recover from this wedding anyways," Piper said. "Have you noticed that some of the gods were pre-drinking during the ceremony?"

"Don't tell me which," Jason said.

"You know exactly who."

"I think we'll be able to tell soon enough," Hazel said.

Dinner was surprisingly uneventful. The nymphs had outdone themselves, which is what Annabeth thought every single time she ate the nymphs' food now that she was subsiding on her own cooking abilities, and Percy's slightly better ones. She scooted her chair closer to Percy's and held his hand under the table during toasts and speeches, since she was too emotionally unstable to listen to all the kind things that Grover and Sally and Rachel and Chiron and Malcolm and everybody else who came up with a last-minute tidbit had to say about them.

She was pretty sure that they were done now, when Piper -their MC of the night since, in the worst-case scenario, she could charmspeak the crowd into compliance- took the mic again.

"We're going to have to close the open mic now," she said. Jason stood next to her. "Even if it's so nice to hear all these stories of nonsense. It's especially useful for Jason and I, who along with quite a few people here, have only known Percy and Annabeth since they've been together. Which come to think of it, is too bad, because it would have been a privilege to see how the hell this ended up happening…"

Piper paused to let the crowd laugh, and Percy started noticing that Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Rachel and Clarisse were starting to scatter plastic plants across the dance floor, and planting props. Oh gods.

"But we did our homework, and we talked to a lot of first-hand witnesses, and we have a pretty good idea of how things went down…"

Jason passed her a clip, Piper put her hair up and from behind the podium, she pulled out a blonde shake-and-go wig and put it on. The crowd starting roaring and Piper looked Annabeth right in the eye. Percy realized what was going to happen and he starred at Jason, jaw dropped and finger pointed in accusation. Jason starred right back and put on a beanie and took off his glasses, and the room went up to a dull roar.

"Annabeth sweetheart, this is a skit that's going to take a while, you're going to have to stop shaking your head or you'll hurt yourself," Piper said. "Alright, narrator, come on up…"

And Grover, that traitor, took her place behind the microphone and took a script out of the inside of his shirt.

"The First Summer…" he read dramatically.

When Percy smashed cake in Annabeth's face, he knew she'd be mad. In another part of his brain, he had a mental note that Annabeth didn't get mad, she got even. Still; the two ends did not meet until Annabeth threw a handful of cake at him and hit him in the jaw. He was shocked, but he burst out laughing, and threw cake back at her.

"They're wasting perfectly fine cake," Grover said just as Leo smashed an entire slice into his face.

The casualties in the reception hall were far and wide. The Stoll brothers themselves got twenty people. Estelle got both Sally and Paul in one go. Chiron managed to get Mr D and at least ten years of grievances off his chest. Since Cabins 5 and 7 were at the peak of a Capture-the-Flag rivalry, the damage could have been worst. Sources said that Poseidon even took the opportunity to get Athena smack in the back of the head, and Frank swore that he saw the goddess with icing in her hair later that night, and would stand by this until the day he died.

"Are you going to wipe the icing off on your shirt?" Annabeth asked when she and Percy were given fresh new slices by some incredibly disapproving nymphs.

"No," Percy said.

She gave him a critical look, and then passed him a napkin.

Jason, Leo, and Piper were in charge of lighting the fire outside. They'd set-up a fire pit that morning and were building up a bonfire now, to give people someplace to go if they didn't want to dance or needed a break. Piper was predicting that half-bloods would be making out there all night- she'd found Will and Nico there before even lighting the damn thing. Candles in jars and lanterns and torches lit up a path to get there, or to the beach volleyball pit that wasn't too far off either. Additionally, Cabin 11 had buried coolers full of beer in the sand at strategic locations across the beach "in case we run out of booze", in Cecil's words.

"Hey," Percy said. "How's it coming along?"

"Good," Jason said. "Kindling's caught."

"Awesome," Percy said. "Hey, you should go grab some cake and eat it by the fire. We have, umm, less than we thought we would. Long story, not my fault at all. I can watch for a few."

"Sure," Leo said. Piper smacked Jason in the ass and ran up the turf. Jason rolled his eyes and followed her back up.

Percy took a deep breath and looked at the stars, and at the sea.

"I was hoping you would come," he said.

Hestia smiled. She sat on the edge of the firepit, her eyes glowing amber like the growing fire.

"I wouldn't have missed it," she said quietly. "This is the most exciting wedding in centuries."

"Yeah," Percy said running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I told my Mom to make sure Estelle got out of there before nine, when the inner alcoholics of all half-bloods explode."

"That was probably wise," Hestia said. "Though you would have to ask your new mother-in-law to confirm."

Percy laughed and sat down on the edge of the firepit too.

"Although I suppose she isn't quite new," Hestia said. "How long has it been, already? Three years?"

"Three years since Vegas, yeah," Percy said. "I guess you would know that. That's how long Annabeth and I have shared our home."

"That's not true," Hestia said.

"We did live together in college," Percy nodded.

"That's not what I meant," she said. "She's been your home much longer than that, Percy. And you've made her feel safe and sound and steady for just as long. I wish you many more years together."

"Thank you," Percy said. "That means a lot from you."

"Nonsense," Hestia said. "I predict that sometime later tonight, after a few more cocktails, Aphrodite and some of the more major gods will start promising to bless you with the most beautiful children and possibly immortality- though of course, there will be no follow-through."

"Probably," Percy said. "But the thing that I've realized about gods over the years is that 'major' and 'minor'… well, that's all about perspective."

Hestia cocked her head to the side for a moment and then smiled.

"Your friends are coming back," she said. "You should go inside. Your first dance will be soon."

"Right," Percy said. "I'll try and come say hello again later."

"Don't," Hestia said. "You'll only have a second wedding once, but you always know where to find me."

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, lords and ladies, folks all around, we are back," Piper said into the microphone. "If I can have everyone turn their attention to the dance floor, Percy and Annabeth now owe us their first dance, since we haven't seen that yet."

By this point in the night, truckloads of half-bloods shuttled from Camp by Argus had poured into the reception pavilion, and it was getting rather rowdy.

"Okay, settle down, hooligans," Piper said pointing to a specific spot in the crowd that was packed with children of Aphrodite and Hermes- a dangerous combination for the evening. "Now, not only do Percy and Annabeth- hey, you two, get up, who do you think I'm talking about?- well, not only do they owe us their first dance, but tonight they're going to keep a promise they made with Estelle because they got married once without her. Estelle, how about you tell us what they promised?"

She knelt down and put the microphone near Estelle's smiling mouth.

"I got to pick the song," Estelle said. She was pretty shy, so Piper picked her up and propped her on her hip.

"You did," Piper said. "Okay Estelle, now you have to tell me the truth. Were you a good sister who picked a good song, or a great sister who picked a song that would be funny?"

"It's my favourite song because Percy is my favourite," Estelle said.

She got really bashful when the crowd started clapping for her.

"Thank you, Estelle," Piper said. "Alright, so I know that some of you have already been drinking, so here's a quick recap- Percy and Annabeth are going to dance- Percy put your hands on her waist, damn, I'm not asking for much. Everybody else pay attention."

Percy made a face at Piper, and put his hands on Annabeth's waist. She put her arms around his neck and they waited for the music to start. When it did they automatically melted to the floor and burst out laughing at Estelle's song choice _(because of course this was her favourite)_ , but they got it back together and started dancing by the time Elton John started singing.

" _There's a calm surrender to the rush of day  
When the heat of a rolling wind can be turned away  
An enchanted moment, and it sees me through  
It's enough for this restless warrior just to be with you_

 _And can you feel the love tonight?  
It is where we are  
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer  
That we got this far_

 _And can you feel the love tonight?  
How it's laid to rest  
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds  
Believe the very best_

…"

They danced, Percy holding Annabeth close and smiling at her the whole time. Annabeth smiled back. She leaned in and kissed him.

"Your sister picked well," she whispered before resting her head on Percy's chest. He propped his chin on top of her head and started counting the curls in her hair. It was like counting stars. When they were in college and Percy's Tartarus nightmares were still ongoing, that's how he fell asleep.

" _There's a time for everyone if they only learn  
That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn  
There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors  
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours_

 _And can you feel the love tonight?  
It is where we are  
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer  
That we got this far."_

Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear for permission, and she nodded frantically. When they'd spun so that Percy could see Estelle he beckoned for her and mouthed _come here._ She ran onto the dance floor and hugged his leg. He scooped her up, and propped her up on his hip. Annabeth took Estelle's hand and swung it to the music.

When Annabeth looked up to see Sally, she saw her wiping away happy tears, which nearly set Annabeth off all over again. But, she held it together and smiled back at Percy and listened to Estelle softly sing every word to the song. Percy sang back.

 _"And can you feel the love tonight?  
How it's laid to rest  
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds  
Believe the very best_

 _It's enough to make kings and vagabonds  
Believe the very best."_

When the song was done he leaned in to kiss Annabeth again. Estelle started clapping, still in his arms.

"That was cuter than expected," Piper said taking to the mic again. "Alright, everyone. Our next surprise for this evening—stop complaining, losers, this is our last organized event. Percy and Annabeth had made it expressly clear that even if they're already married, they still want a first dance with their parents."

Sally shook her head looking at Percy with a happy and surprised disapproval as she joined him.

Annabeth's dad looked at least twice as surprised, but he still came on the dance floor when Annabeth held out her hand to him.

"I didn't think you'd want this," he admitted to her quietly when the music started.

"Think of it as our apology for not inviting you to our first wedding," Annabeth said.

"No, I mean, even then, I…" he looked away from her. "You are such a strong woman, Annabeth. For a very long time, I was afraid that I had messed you up somehow. That I hadn't been a good father. Which I haven't, I know—"

"Dad, don't say that," Annabeth said. "Dad, you… I wasn't easy, either, and you were alone. I can't imagine that."

"I was an adult," he said dismissively. "And you were a child, and it took me so long to realise what I had to do and what I had to let go. Even if I've always loved you, I've done a poor job at showing it, of learning how to channel that…"

"But you did," Annabeth said. "'Wisdom is not a race.' You used to tell me that when I was studying."

"I can't believe you remembered that."

"It's the only thing that kept me going at camp and in college. I… can I tell you something? But you'll be the first person we've told, so you're going to have to stay composed, okay?"

He looked at her frowning.

"I'm pregnant, Dad," Annabeth said.

His face slacked and he sucked in a deep breath. "Really?"

"Yes," Annabeth said.

"How long have you known?"

"Three months," Annabeth said.

"I- I had no idea, you're not showing," Frederic said.

"My dress is very loose," Annabeth said. "I've been careful. It's hard for demigods, to have children. We didn't want to tell anyone prematurely. But I'm telling you because I love you too, dad. We're not perfect, but I love you. And I'm not going to be a perfect mother, I know it too, so I hope that- I hope that I can have that with my child. I hope that I can be imperfect, that they can be imperfect, and that we'll love each other still."

"Oh, Annabeth," he sighed. "Annabeth, you're going to be wonderful."

They stopped dancing and he just held her.

"Hey Mom," Percy said quietly. "I think I should tell you something."

"What, sweetheart?" Mom asked. Over her shoulder, Percy saw Annabeth's father holding her tight, this look of incredulity and happiness and shock on his face. Annabeth had happy tears in her eyes, or at least Percy _hoped_ they were happy- it had been a long day for her. They made eye contact, and Annabeth nodded and mouthed _I blew it._

"Umm," Percy said. He smiled. The words were right on the tip of his tongue, but he hadn't actually had to use them yet, and it felt so blissfully ridiculous and exciting to say it…

"Annabeth is pregnant," he whispered in her ear.

Mom looked up, mouth open in an _O._ He felt her hand on his shoulder slack for a second.

"Really?" Mom said. "Oh my gosh… Oh, Percy… Percy that's so…"

"Mom, shh, don't cry," Percy said. "Nobody except you and Frederic know."

"Oh my gosh," she said. He'd made it worst. "How is she? Is she okay? Any morning sickness? How far along is she?"

"Four months."

" _Four months?_ And nobody knew?"

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier, we just… we wanted to be sure."

"I'm so happy for you," Sally said. "I'm so happy you get this. That you got to grow up and go to school and find work you love and marry your best friend, and now this… You gave me a few scares."

"Yeah, me too," Percy said. He smiled and hugged his mom. "But you always pulled me through."

"Don't say that," Sally said. "You did that all on your own."

"But I couldn't have done it without you," he said. "Nobody else would have stuck by me like that."

When the music ended, Frederic and Sally let go of their children and crossed the dance floor to hug the other.

While most of the reception-goers thought this was cute, Rachel was inherently suspicious as a human being. Also she read lips, gasped, and grabbed Piper's arm halfway through the song.

When the dance floor was flooded by dancers and gods, Rachel grabbed Percy and Annabeth and pulled them to the side, just outside of the pavilion, with Piper, Frank, Nico and Hazel in tow.

"Oh my gods," Rachel said. "Oh. My. Gods."

"Red, calm down," Percy said, looking over his shoulder at the crowd. "We're trying to be subtle."

"Oh," Rachel said. "Sorry."

"Well, that's out the window," Piper said. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth looked at Percy annoyed, but her face broke into a smile when she saw his, and she turned back to them.

"I'm pregnant," she said.

" _What?"_ Frank by far had the loudest, most excited reaction.

" _Dude,"_ Percy said.

" _How?"_ Frank asked.

"I'm not explaining this to you," Percy said.

Next to him, Annabeth mouthed to the girls: _"Black stilettoes."_ Hazel nodded, Rachel clapped.

"Oh gods," Piper said. "That's why you weren't drinking yesterday!"

Annabeth nodded. Percy's hand rested on her hip. Hazel squealed.

"We knew we wanted to have a reception eventually, but we realized that there really was no point in doing it once Annabeth was too pregnant to enjoy it- or that having a baby around would make it more complicated," Percy explained. He smiled at Annabeth, whose hand lay against his chest. He didn't look away. "And, well, the baby's on its way."

"Gods, I'm so glad we told people so I don't have to keep it together anymore," Annabeth said tears welling up in her eyes. Percy smiled and kissed her forehead as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She turned back to their friends. "You wouldn't believe how real the struggle is, I have been a _mess."_

"You have not," Percy said.

"Compared to usual," Annabeth said. She still smiled, which made the whole thing too much for Hazel's poor little heart. She wrapped her arms around Annabeth and broke out into _this is the best day ever congratulations oh my gosh I'm going to be an aunt!_

Frank and Piper and Rachel snapped out of their surprise and it was hugs and congratulations all around. Except for Nico, who was strangely silent.

" _Nico,"_ Hazel said, poking her brother in the hip. "What do you say?"

"Oh, I knew," Nico said.

Frank's jaw dropped.

"Are you kidding?" Frank said.

"Yeah, no, I thought… I thought everyone knew!" Nico said. "What the fuck do I know, when people start saying these things? It's been, like, four months that Annabeth's life force is worth three."

Percy was going to say something sassy, but Annabeth interrupted him.

"Wait- three?" Annabeth said.

"Yeah," Nico shrugged.

"Okay Nico, I know you don't know a whole lot about the female body or how babies are made, but it's… only one at a… time…" Percy trailed off.

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth said, slapping his arm. "This is your fault!"

"I didn't do-" Percy trailed off. "Holy Styx, Wise Girl…"

"Look at you Nico, you're spreading joy," Piper said.

"Yeah, and thanks for that," Annabeth said. "Okay, I know I can't possibly stop you from telling your significant others, but if at least 60% of guests could go home without knowing tonight, that would be great, you guys."

"That's not fair," Frank said. "Who do Hazel and I tell?"

"You can share Leo," Percy offered.

"And I'm single as fuck," Rachel said.

"Gods, aren't you tired of giving people news they don't ask for?" Annabeth said. "Besides, you're sleeping with Reyna on the side, tell her."

"Seriously?" Hazel said, looking at Rachel in shock. She turned to Frank. "We don't know anything."

"Whoa, that's a whole other can of worms-" Rachel said.

"And we don't have time to get into it," Annabeth said. "Please do us this one favour as a wedding gift. We'll start attracting attention if we don't get back on the dance floor."

As everyone started milling away, Annabeth grabbed Percy's arm and said "Not you."

The dance floor was quite the tumultuous place to be that evening. Even gods had to take a breath, which was how Poseidon ended up at the bar alone when someone poked his leg. He looked down at Estelle Blofis, who was all flower crowns and superhero capes, sipping on a Capri Sun.

"Hello," he said.

"You look like my brother," Estelle said.

"What's your brother's name?" Poseidon asked.

"His name is Perseus Jackson," Estelle recited.

"Oh, I know him," Poseidon said. "But as a matter of fact, he looks like me. I had this look first."

"My mom says I stole her look," Estelle said. "But my dad's hair. And Annabeth says I stole her heart."

"That all sounds likely," Poseidon agreed. "How old are you now?"

She put her juice box down to show him five fingers.

"Impressive," Poseidon said.

"And how old are you mister?" Estelle asked.

"It's a very long number to remember," he said. "You don't really want to know."

"No fair, I told you," Estelle said.

"Fair enough. I'm ageless," he said.

"That feels like a lie too," Estelle said. "Will you lie if I ask you another question?"

"Well, what's the question?" Poseidon asked.

"I saw you holding a giant fork earlier," Estelle said. "And there was a lady over there holding a sword. Are they heavy?"

Poseidon let a second pass.

"I'm not going to answer that question," Poseidon said. "It's a story for older girls. When you're a little bit older, why don't you ask your mother? She knows."

"You're not very fun to talk to when you lie and make me wait," Estelle said. He could appreciate the honesty, and if not that, then _man_ was this child adorable.

"Well, I can be _some_ fun," Poseidon said. "Do you want to hear a story about mermaids?"

"Mermaids who sing?"

"Not quite," Poseidon said. "But they have swords and spears like superheroes."

"Cool," Estelle said, putting her Capri Sun back to her mouth.

Percy put his hand on Paul's shoulder- he was talking with who Percy thought was Aphrodite, but she was always a little hard to spot. Still, she looked more like Annabeth than Athena did, so it was a fair guess.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," he said. "Do you have your car keys on you?"

"Jacket pocket," he said. "Why?"

Percy stole the keys.

"Thanks, I'll bring them back," he said. He lowered his voice. "Also that's not Mom you're talking to, it's Aphrodite."

"What?" Paul asked.

"Oh sweetie, aren't you the cutest," Aphrodite said.

Paul looked at Percy like _help,_ but Percy was already running away.

About twenty minutes later, they were parked outside the closest convenience store. Annabeth was sitting on his lap, her feet resting on the passenger's seat, shoes discarded and abandoned somewhere in the back, happily eating her Ben & Jerry's. His arms were wrapped around her waist, and his hands landed on her stomach. Not only did she not push him away, but she also fed him ice cream. It wasn't the usual New York Super Fudge Chunk that she usually brought home from the grocery store or that he ran out to get in the middle of the night if she couldn't sleep. But she seemed happy enough with the fudge and almonds and whatever else was in there.

"Better?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nodded, spoon in her mouth. She smiled at him, pulled out the spoon.

"I'm happy," she said. "Are you happy?"

"I'm happy," Percy said. "Are you happy being married to me?"

"We've been married for years, Seaweed Brain," she said, strategically loading up a spoon with all the toppings and flavours in the blend.

"Okay," he said. "What's your favourite part of being married to me?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but took the spoon out of her mouth. "The fact that I wake up next to you. So if I have something to tell you or if I want someone to hold me or if I want us to go out, you're always right there."

"That's cute, Wise Girl," he said. She made a face at him.

"Okay, same question," Annabeth said.

"I like telling people you're my wife," Percy said. "Like, whenever I introduce you or when someone looks at the pictures on my desk and asks. It makes me feel like I've done something right, and that it can't be taken away. Because things only get better."

"Twice as better?" She laughed at Percy's face. "I think I'm going to wait for a doctor to show me two babies on a sonogram before I believe Nico di Angelo."

"Sounds good," Percy said. "Although, for the record, I'm pretty sure we could handle anything."

Annabeth nodded and gave him a spoonful of ice cream before taking the last.

"All done," she said. "We should go back before someone notices we're missing."

"Okay," Percy said. She crawled off him and sat back down in the passenger seat, and buckled her seat belt.

"Hey," Jason said standing next to Annabeth.

"Hey," Annabeth said.

"Congratulations," he said quietly. "Piper told me."

"Of course she did," Annabeth said. "And thank you."

"Also I have a message from Percy," Jason said. "He wants to know if you want to dance with him."

Annabeth looked across the room and gave Percy a look. Jason burst out laughing.

Annabeth was just stepping off the dance floor for a second to take off her shoes and abandon them when she was ambushed.

"My Lord," she said surprised, bowing her head to Poseidon.

"At ease, Annabeth," Poseidon said. Somebody had dug up Cabin 11's cooler from the turf and dragged it inside, Poseidon took a beer for himself and offered one to Annabeth though she, of course, politely declined.

"I must say, I think this might just boost you into Hera's good books," Poseidon said.

"I hope so," Annabeth said. "Though we weren't expecting quite so many gods- not that I'm complaining, My Lord…"

"I understand," Poseidon said. "We are not the, ah…. Most rational batch. Although I hope you understand what it means to have Olympus in its near-entirety celebrating in your honour."

Annabeth blushed. "I think we also have chain party-goers to account for."

"Oh, definitely," Poseidon said. "But I haven't seen so many sea gods turn up in one place since the Titanic sank. We're happy to have you among our ranks, Annabeth."

She blushed.

"I'm sure Percy must have mentioned it somewhere along the way," Poseidon said. "But what belongs to the sea always returns to it. Remember that."

"Thank you, My Lord," Annabeth said.

Poseidon looked over his shoulder. "Speaking of which, I should stop Triton from getting into it with Percy just now. Enjoy your night, daughter."

Percy kissed the top of Estelle's hair and told Mom that she should get out of here before some sort of nude scandal took place.

"I think we'll call it a night too," Mom said.

Paul pulled Estelle back in his arm. She had fallen asleep under a table, surrounded by empty Capri Sun juice boxes, mumbling something about mermaids in her sleep. Annabeth had also shepherded her mortal family out.

They stood watching the parking lot, and Annabeth put her head on his shoulder.

"I love you," she said.

"That's _really_ good because guess what we did today…"


End file.
